About the Guide
A Joint Product of the Software Preservation Network and the Cyberlaw Clinic @ the Berkman Klein Center
The 1201 exemption for “computer programs” went into effect on October 28, 2018 and will last until October 28th, 2021. This guide was published on December 10, 2018.
The Library of Congress recently adopted several exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provision prohibiting circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. The exemptions went into effect on October 28, 2018 and last until October 28th, 2021. This guide is intended to help preservationists determine whether their activities fall under the new exemption.
Request for Community Feedback
Let us know if you use the exemption as part of your practice, and what you are preserving. Your feedback will be used to create an FAQ, and as evidence for renewal of the exemption in 3 years time.
DMCA Preservationist’s Guide Feedback Form
Email: kalbert@law.harvard.edu
Additional Information
- DMCA Exemption to preserve “computer programs” granted by the Library of Congress Copyright Office
- SPN’s proposed DMCA exemption to preserve “computer programs”
- Cyberlaw Clinic blog post describing the 2018 Triennial 1201 Rulemaking Process
- Cyberlaw Clinic blog post describing the oral hearings for the 1201 Rulemaking Process
- Supporting comments from Software Preservation and Library Copyright Alliance and the Free Software Foundation
- Replies to opposition comments:
- SPN
- Andrew Berger (Computer History Museum)
- Nick Montfort (MIT)